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Commercials in movie theaters. People who text while walking and even crossing the street. Fans spewing vulgarity at sporting events.
How often do you Google yourself?

Never.

What do you know now that you wish someone had told you 10 years ago?

That government in the 2000s would wholly abandon the interests of ordinary people to become a slavish and unapologetic force on behalf of the wealthiest members of society.

What childhood event shaped or scarred you the most?

There was not one event, but I was profoundly influenced by the protest movements of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. It was so clear that governments and business would not spontaneously do the right thing by blacks, women, workers, gays, the environment and on and on. But the various movements showed that organized and sustained pressure could change not just laws and long-held customs but the very character of the society.
Would you rather …

… live without music or live without TV?

Without TV; it’s not even a close call.

… be gossiped about or never talked about at all?

Never talked about at all.
Think of one of your least favorite people in Washington and, without naming him or her, describe what makes that person so unappealing.

Insufferably smug, sanctimonious, hypocritical and lacking in empathy for ordinary people. That applies to an awful lot of people in Washington, doesn’t it?
Let your mother know how much she means to you in the form of a haiku.

What a surprise. A Liberal Socialist Democrat, media elite rips off his mask to reveal a Liberal Socialist Democrat, media elite underneath. Now he can draw a fat salary and hear his own psycho-babble echoing off the walls of his ivory tower, without having to make a publishing deadline. Nice work if you can get it.

I particularly like the squishy, softball puff questions by Mr. Gavin. Honestly, Patrick, during the interview, were you sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of his chair, so you could look up at him adoringly, hoping, just hoping that you could be given a similar gig in the future? I guess the toughest part was keeping the slobber off his shoes, right? I'm a little surprised that you didn't ask what sort of tree Bob Herbert would like to be, or maybe, is it difficult to love? Of course, I'm certain that the same fawning kid-glove treatment given to Mr Herbert will be given to people like Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin in the future. After all, that's what unbiased journalism is all about, or at least what journalists in the lame-stream media hear bouncing back at them in their own ivory towers.

BOB HERBERT: You guys have seen the ad a number of times, I am sure, and you have it here in-house. First thing you see are a couple of images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, right? And we see an image of Barack Obama right after that, comes quickly at the beginning of the ad. You remember that, right? Do you remember any other startling images right there at the beginning? [NO ONE RESPONDS] All right. There is an image right there in that very beginning of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and there is an image of the Washington Monument. Look at the beginning of that ad again. And you tell me why those two phallic symbols are placed there. [SNAPS FINGERS] Pow, right at the very beginning of that ad. You tell me. … SEVERAL PANELISTS SAY: Isn’t that the Victory Column?

HERBERT: And also the, well, it looked like the Leaning Tower, but it’s definitely a phallic [UNABLE TO HEAR WORD], right in the beginning, and the Washington Monument. So you explain to me why there are two phallic symbols immediately in those first few seconds of that ad. And I put it in the context of the ad that was run against Harold Ford in 2006. And you explain to me why you have these scantily clad women, or women known to be scantily clad, women who have trouble keeping their clothes on, only in ads where the candidate is a black male, where the person being attacked is a black male. Why is that? Coincidence? Do we have it against, you know, John Kerry? Did we have it against Al Gore? Did we have it against Bill Clinton? Why is that?

Ah, yes #2 and #3 troll their venom. Never give an inch, never recognize another's humanity - he's on the other side (which in this case makes you two in thrall to the plutocrats). Your mothers are looking on in alarm and disgust.

MarchHare shows nothing but envy in his post. The Bob Herbert I know is 180 degrees removed from his description. MarchHare shows disdain for Herbert, his lifework and his person. One has to ask why? Where did this hate come from? What did Herbert do to scar this person so?Make sure you take your high pressure medication, you might bust a vessel reading about Herbert.